The Demon in the Freezer

"This book will give you nightmares," cautions The New York Times. Richard Preston takes us inside the ongoing war against bioterrorism, investigating the anthrax attacks of October 2001 and the potential for a future bio-attack using smallpox or, worse yet, a new superpox virus resistant to all vaccines. "As exciting as the best thrillers, yet scarier by far, for Preston's pages deal with clear, present and very real dangers," says Publishers Weekly.

Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science

Bizarre illnesses and plagues that kill people in the most unspeakable ways. Obsessive and inspired efforts by scientists to solve mysteries and save lives. From The Hot Zone to The Demon in the Freezer and beyond, Richard Preston's best selling works have mesmerized readers everywhere by showing them strange worlds of nature they never dreamed of.

Spillover

The emergence of strange new diseases is a frightening problem that seems to be getting worse. In this age of speedy travel, it threatens a worldwide pandemic. We hear news reports of Ebola, SARS, AIDS, and something called Hendra killing horses and people in Australia - but those reports miss the big truth that such phenomena are part of a single pattern. The bugs that transmit these diseases share one thing: they originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. David Quammen tracks this subject around the world.

The Andromeda Strain

The United States government is given a warning by the preeminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere.

Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus

The most fatal virus known to science, rabies kills nearly 100 percent of its victims once the infection takes root in the brain. From Greek myths to zombie flicks, from the laboratory heroics of Louis Pasteur to the contemporary search for a lifesaving treatment, Rabid is a fresh, fascinating, and often wildly entertaining look at one of mankind’s oldest and most fearsome foes.

Chernobyl 01:23:40: The Incredible True Story of the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster

At 01:23:40 on April 26th 1986, Alexander Akimov pressed the emergency shutdown button at Chernobyl's fourth nuclear reactor. It was an act that forced the permanent evacuation of a city, killed thousands, and crippled the Soviet Union. The event spawned decades of conflicting, exaggerated, and inaccurate stories.

The Ghost Map

This is a thrilling historical account of the worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London and a brilliant exploration of how Dr. John Snow's solution revolutionized the way we think about disease, cities, science, and the modern world.

The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez

Decades after Richard Ramirez left 13 dead and paralyzed the city of Los Angeles, his name is still synonymous with fear, torture, and sadistic murder. Philip Carlo's classic The Night Stalker, based on years of meticulous research and extensive interviews with Ramirez, revealed the killer and his horrifying crimes to be even more chilling than anyone could have imagined. The story of Ramirez is a bizarre and spellbinding descent into the very heart of human evil.

Bless Me, Ultima

As Tony follows his own path toward adulthood, he relies on the wisdom of Ultima, a magical healer, to forge his unique identity. With hundreds of thousands of copies in print, Bless Me, Ultima has been called the most widely read Mexican-American novel in the English language. Richly evocative, it has earned its place among the classics of modern literature, even drawing favorable comparisons to Herman Melville's legendary Moby Dick.

Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond

Interweaving history, original reportage, and personal narrative, Pandemic explores the origin of epidemics, drawing parallels between the story of cholera - one of history's most disruptive and deadly pathogens - and the new pathogens that stalk humankind today, from Ebola and avian influenza to drug-resistant superbugs.

Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital

David Oshinsky, whose last book, Polio: An American Story, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, chronicles the history of America's oldest hospital and in so doing also charts the rise of New York to the nation's preeminent city, the path of American medicine from butchery and quackery to a professional and scientific endeavor, and the growth of a civic institution.

Sword of the Rightful King

Even though he has been king of Britain for four years, Arthur's position is far from secure. Rulers of the island's many small fiefdoms are still reluctant to admit his sovereignty. And the sorceress Morgause, believing her own sons have as much blood right to rule as Arthur, plots openly against his life.

State of Fear

Once again Michael Crichton gives us his trademark combination of page-turning suspense, cutting-edge technology, and extraordinary research. State of Fear is a superb blend of edge-of-your-seat suspense and thought provoking commentary on how information is manipulated in the modern world.

Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly

In 1976 a deadly virus emerged from the Congo forest. As swiftly as it came, it disappeared, leaving no trace. Over the four decades since, Ebola has emerged sporadically, each time to devastating effect. It can kill up to 90 percent of its victims. In between these outbreaks, it is untraceable, hiding deep in the jungle. The search is on to find Ebola's elusive host animal.

The Fever: Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years

In recent years, malaria has emerged as a cause célèbre for voguish philanthropists. Bill Gates, Bono, and Laura Bush are only a few of the personalities who have lent their names - and opened their pocketbooks - in hopes of curing the disease. Still, in a time when every emergent disease inspires waves of panic, why aren’t we doing more to eradicate one of our oldest foes? And how does a parasitic disease that we’ve known how to prevent for more than a century still infect 500 million people every year, killing nearly 1 million of them?

The Troop

Once every year, Scoutmaster Tim Riggs leads a troop of boys into the Canadian wilderness for a weekend camping trip - a tradition as comforting and reliable as a good ghost story around a roaring bonfre. The boys are a tight-knit crew. There’s Kent, one of the most popular kids in school; Ephraim and Max, also well-liked and easygoing; then there’s Newt the nerd and Shelley the odd duck. For the most part, they all get along and are happy to be there - which makes Scoutmaster Tim’s job a little easier.

Ebola: The History of the Virus and Its Outbreaks

It has long been a maxim that it is easy to forget when one is at war who the enemy really is, and that can certainly be said for the Ebola virus, which recently catapulted into headlines and instantly became the most feared disease in the world. In the case of the fight against Ebola, the enemy is not the person who has contracted the disease, nor is it the region where the virus has flourished. The enemy is a microscopic virus that, when seen under sufficient magnification, looks like a piece of loosely knotted rope.

Micro: A Novel

In a locked Honolulu office building, three men are found dead with no sign of struggle except for the ultrafine, razor-sharp cuts covering their bodies. The only clue left behind is a tiny bladed robot, nearly invisible to the human eye. In the lush forests of Oahu, groundbreaking technology has ushered in a revolutionary era of biological prospecting. Trillions of microorganisms, tens of thousands of bacteria species, are being discovered; they are feeding a search for priceless drugs and applications on a scale beyond anything previously imagined.

In Miracles and Mayhem in the ER, Dr. Brent Russell shares true-life stories of his early days as an emergency room doctor. Contemplative and oftentimes hilarious, Dr. Russell leads the listener through the glass doors and down the narrow halls of the ER where desperate patients, young and old, come to get well. Occasionally heart wrenching and always fast-paced, Miracles and Mayhem in the ER will have listeners holding their breath one second and celebrating the next.

In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors

On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained undetected by the navy for nearly four days and nights. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to stay alive, fighting off sharks, hypothermia, and dementia. By the time rescue arrived, all but 317 men had died. The captain's subsequent court-martial left many questions unanswered

Congo

Deep in the African rain forest, near the legendary ruins of the Lost City of Zinj, an expedition of eight American geologists are mysteriously and brutally killed in a matter of minutes. Ten thousand miles away, Karen Ross, the Congo Project Supervisor, watches a gruesome video transmission of the aftermath: a camp destroyed, tents crushed and torn, equipment scattered in the mud alongside dead bodies - all motionless except for one moving image - a grainy, dark, man-shaped blur.

The Demon Under The Microscope

The Nazis discovered it. The Allies won the war with it. It conquered diseases, changed laws, and single-handedly launched the era of antibiotics. This incredible discovery was sulfa, the first antibiotic medication. In The Demon Under the Microscope, Thomas Hager chronicles the dramatic history of the drug that shaped modern medicine.

One Doctor: Close Calls, Cold Cases, and the Mysteries of Medicine

An epic story told by a unique voice in Ameri­can medicine, One Doctor describes life-changing experiences in the career of a distinguished physi­cian. In riveting first-person prose, Dr. Brendan Reilly takes us to the front lines of medicine today.

The Exorcist: 40th Anniversary Edition

Four decades after it first shook the nation, then the world, William Peter Blatty's thrilling masterwork of faith and demonic possession returns in an even more powerful form. Raw and profane, shocking and blood-chilling, it remains a modern parable of good and evil and perhaps the most terrifying novel ever written.

Publisher's Summary

A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days, 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus.

The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.

It's rare that a non-fiction book can be this exciting, this compelling, and this gory! Hot Zone certainly gets detailed, and I loved every second of it. Preston did an OUTSTANDING job researching this topic, and really becoming an expert on it. The way he crafted a story that will keep you guessing is nothing short of genius. Narrarator is outstanding. Overall, I'd rather read/listen to this non-fiction book than ANY of the fictional virus stories I've read. Yes, it's THAT good!

Where does The Hot Zone rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

very high, very well done, easy to listen to.

What did you like best about this story?

the fact that its non fiction, all the info received from the story is factual and is happening as we sit here

Have you listened to any of Richard M. Davidson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

ok, 20min in i don't think i could of listened to the whole thing, but by 50% in the guy is perfect. his mannerisms are really scary actually when expressing the situations that arise

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

my reaction is its like being hit by a truck of realitymedically, 100yrs from now, the medical community are going to laugh at us the way we laugh when we read that 100yrs ago they were figuring out we should wash our hands and sterilize equipments

Any additional comments?

just 1 thing, sorry for knocking it, but thanking the author for pronunciations that are incorrect was funny, i caught just 1 word so far. it doesn't take anything away from the storyi will listen again and also will get more preston books

This book was an excellent listen for a road trip. It kept me on the edge of my seat for the whole ride. I experienced a wide range of feelings, some of which included fear, disgust, repulsion, exhilaration, and relief. I felt that what was lost in the telling was the awful and unfair fate of the monkeys, who were happily swinging through trees, free in their mostly native habitats, and subsequently brought into this nightmare scenario. If you are not an animal rights person now, this book may make you wonder why not. It sure did for me.The true tale certainly opened my eyes to what future scenarios could evolve, almost sci-fi in nature, and it left me wanting to search out more information on the subject.Highly recommended!

This is an amazing book... it kept me up until 2:00AM one night 'cause I couldn't stop. A publisher's description of it has a line that says, "truth is scarier than fiction" and I have to agree with the stories in this book. There are several sections with various timeline stories that follow several outbreaks of the nastiest viruses, particularly ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. Preston did a great job of not only detailing events and technical aspects of the science, but he also does a great job of fleshing out characters involved... and scaring the bejesus out of me. There is a great, big, huge, UNFORTUNATELY at the end, though. For some schizophrenic reason, Preston absolutely ruins the ending of the book by going off on a MASSIVE liberal diatribe. After such a careful, intellectual presentation of facts and science, Preston, out of nowhere, drops an anti-intellectual theory on the reader by asserting that the nasty viruses are somehow the result of Mother Nature's vengeance on the human species, which he equates to the dignity of a parasite. I wonder how he feels when he realizes the number of trees it took to print all of his books...

This book is wonderfully written. It is science writing at it's best. It is also very scary. I kept hoping it was science fiction, but it is science fact. It flows like "the Andromeda Strain" but every word is true. This book is an adventure and a trip I was happy to take.I read it 20 years ago and loved it even more listening now to the audio version.

Research Technologist with deep interests in Host Cell - Pathogen Interactions & Cancer Research. I enjoy and mostly listen to Non-Fiction audiobooks on Medicine/Science, War and History. I also like to Game when I'm not in the lab.

I really enjoyed the Level 4 scenes and has spiked my interests in working there one day.

Any additional comments?

One will really appreciate works like this when in the Scientific world. As a matter of fact, I really enjoyed this audiobook and kept me thinking about my own experiments in the lab and really wish to work with Hot agents like these ones in the book in Hazmat suits one day in my career. Richard Preston really knows and understands what he writes about since he does his researches very well and in detailed. I pray and hope Audible Un-transcribes his other great works like The Cobra Event into Audiobooks. Not forgetting a great read from Richard M. Davidson, a few hitches being a lot of echoes from the reader at a particular point in the first part of the book. In all, it was a great book read by a good reader and I will recommend it to all interested or have something to do with Science....it will make you love your work.

"Scarier than fiction". Ebola has been on the news lately and we are being told that with the recent return of two infected patients to the US it is the first time the virus is in the United States. If you read/listen to this book that made the best seller list more than a decade ago you will learn that this may not necessarily be true.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

I found the fact that the events narrated in this book are real extremely compelling. Of course, the book was very well written and the story itself terrifying (the fact that the particular incident described here does not seem to be common knowledge makes it all the more frightening). The author made good use of the narrative about the event to educate the public on the ebola virus and specific CDC practices.

What about Richard M. Davidson’s performance did you like?

I found the narrator adequate.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book made me scare

Any additional comments?

If the current Ebola epidemic in Africa has piqued your interest regarding this deadly virus I seriously recommend you read this book.

Considering that there is a, at this time, uncontrolled Ebola outbreak I felt it time to do my duty and review this audio. Firstly, when listening to this audio it doesn't seem at all like non-fiction, the author has done a very good job of bridging the gap and creating these true events into a story like pattern that will scare the living hell out of you.

Warning: It's graphic. If you've never read any information on the way one meets their demise "crashes" after being infected with Ebola, Marburg etc.. it's not pretty, in fact it's something straight out of a Stephen King novel. Next time someone even sneezes by you a whole new thought process will instantly take place and you'll squirm as fast as you can away from the epicenter.

This book doesn't slow down for a second and reads like a bio warfare crime drama in which someone is bleeding out ever other paragraph. Read it and then go wash your hands.

What made the experience of listening to The Hot Zone the most enjoyable?

The story does exemplify that truth is scarrier than fiction. The narration is well done however when a writer/narrator does a technical reading there needs to be someone to "edit" pronunciations of technical terms/names. There were a few that were so jumbled that I had to try to spell out in order to determine of what he was writing. (exp. "pseudomonas")Tonya